Rail supplier news from Plasser, HNTB, Stantec, ShaleTech, Alstom and Stalco Construction (Jan. 11)

Plasser & Theurer has appointed Thomas Schopf managing director and chief sales officer, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Gerhard Polterauer, who retired at 2018's end. Schopf now is responsible for all sales and service departments at the company, which develops, manufactures and services track maintenance equipment. Prior to Plasser & Theurer, he was chief operating officer and a board member for Kapsch CarrierCom AG. Schopf joined the Kapsch Group in 1992 and held various positions at the company.

HNTB Corp. has named Mike Wongkaew national tunnel practice lead-northwest and associate vice president. He is based in Bellevue, Washington, and oversees all tunneling work on Sound Transit's Link Extension in west Seattle and Ballard. In his previous capacity, Wongkaew served as chief tunnel engineer for research and development of an underground transportation system. His previous underground projects includes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Regional Connector and Crenshaw/LAX transit corridors, the California high-speed rail project and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's Silicon Valley Rapid Transit/BART project in San Jose.

Engineering firm Stantec has named Hitendra Patel a principal and program manager. He will join the company's transportation team in its Mid-Atlantic region and be based in Laurel, Maryland. Patel — who has more than 30 years' transit experience — will help manage and grow the firm's transportation and transit practices across the Mid-Atlantic, while also lending expertise in construction and systems engineering on many large and complex U.S. transit projects, Stantec officials said in a press release. He most recently was deputy chief of construction and design engineering for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

ShaleTECH Transport has unveiled a new website that's designed to describe the company's logistics and transportation services for the energy sector. The new site features detailed information on last-mile transport, data-driven logistics and containerized delivery solutions, as well as resources for industry partners, ShaleTECH Transport officials said in an announcement. ShaleTECH Transport is joint venture between an OmniTRAX Inc. affiliate and 1845 Oil Field Services. The joint venture was formed late last year to extend the offerings of OmniTRAX Energy Solutions, which provides frac sand storage and transload services.

Alstom and Eversholt Rail have unveiled the design of new hydrogen train targeted at the United Kingdom market. Codenamed "Breeze," the train will be a conversion of existing Class 321 trains to a hydrogen multiple unit. Re-engineering some of the U.K.'s most reliable rolling stock will create a "clean train for the modern age," Alstom and Eversholt Rail officials said in a press release. The trains might be available as early as 2022, they said. Alstom will perform the conversions working in partnership with Eversholt Rail.

General contractor Stalco Construction Inc., Keller Sandgren Architects, engineer The LiRo Group and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have completed the construction of MTA Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Wyandanch Station in Babylon, New York. Keller Sandgren designed the new structure to reflect the railroad architecture of the late 19th century. The 3,000-square foot station is part of two initiatives: Wyandanch Rising, a program that aims to improve development in the hamlet; and LIRR's double-track project — which was completed last month — that involved adding a second track on the Ronkonkoma Branch.